1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food products. More particularly, the present invention relates to novel composite food products comprising two different food materials. One of the food materials is based on soybean protein. Another food material is based on a mince of meat such as a fish meat, chicken or broiler, or other meats. These composite food products have remarkably improved, interesting textures and taste in addition to a moderately controlled heaviness when they are eaten. The present invention also relates to the production processes for the above-described composite food products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Now, a variety of Japanese food products which contain minced fish meat as a principal component, for example, "kamaboko" (boiled fish paste), "satsuma-age" (fried kamaboko or fried fish ball) or others are widely produced in the field of the food industry. Satsuma-age is typically produced by mixing the minced fish meat with a common salt, starch, sugar chemical seasonings and other additives, molding the mixture using any conventional machine, and finally frying the molded fish meat having any desired shape in an edible oil at a temperature of about 180.degree. C.
In addition to the minced fish meat-based food products, many types of soybean protein-based food products are also widely produced in Japan. They include "tofu" (soybean curd), "abura-age" (fried twice), "nama-age" (fried tofu) and "ganmodoki" (fried tofu with mixed vegetables), for example. A typical example for the production of the abura-age comprises the steps of preparing a relatively hard tofu, slicing the tofu, and frying drained slices of the tofu in an edible oil.
Both of the minced fish meat-based food products and the soybean protein-based food products provide good taste and therefore are frequently used in cooking in Japan and recently in other countries, but they suffer from some drawbacks.
For example, the satsuma-age generally tends to lie heavy on the stomach due to its dense texture. In contrast, while the abura-age has a soft texture, it is very light due to its spongy body and therefore necessitates to take an excessively high amount of the same to satisfy eater's appetite. It is, therefore, desired to provide an improved food product having an excellent texture and taste as well as a moderate heaviness in eating, and a process for the production of such food product.